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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

N20 No Laughing Matter

Tuesday, June 18, 2013
The sun is not going to win today.
Storms are predicted along with flash flood warnings.

I have a dentist appointment today. Ross always comes with me to my dentist appointments because I get all nervous and well I'm just going to say it.."I HATE GOING TO THE DENTIST!"
This visit is for a cleaning. I actually find having my teeth cleaned more uncomfortable or just as uncomfortable as any other dental procedure. So, I pay a little extra to (as the hygienist said today) "get gassed up." That would be Nitrous oxide.
As described in an article from Dental Fear Central:

"Nitrous
oxide (N2O) is simply a gas which you can breathe in. It has no color, smell,
and doesn’t irritate. It was discovered in 1772. Humphrey Davy (1778-1829), one
of the pioneers of N2O experimentation, described the effects of N2O on himself
following self-administration for a toothache and gum infection as follows:"

“On the day
when the inflammation was the most troublesome, I breathed three large doses of
nitrous oxide. The pain always diminished after the first four or five
inspirations; the thrilling came on as usual, and uneasiness was for a few
minutes swallowed up in pleasure.”

I'm not sure if the hygienist was a little stingy with the nitrous today, or if the mask didn't fit quite as snugly as it should have, but by the time the cleaning was completed, I had deep finger nail indentations in the palm of my hands. During the entire time, (I think it must have been at least 100 hours) I planned escape "jumping out of the chair", "screaming" and "running out of the door" scenarios.

After I rinsed, spit and dribbled (another thing I hate) she handed me my little toothbrush, floss, and toothpaste "present" and said, "You are such a good patient. You probably don't even need the nitrous."

4 comments:

Amazing - rain like that in June! We see that in Nov - March but otherwise our precipitation comes in foggy mist and occasional sputtering of raindrops.As for the dentist, I HATE the dentist. I didn't mind it when I was younger and I think my aversion grew b/c there have been several times when the current dentist hit a nerve - YOW! Now I am on edge the whole time the dentist is doing his thing. The last time he had to do some kind of crown thing, I tried the nitrous stuff -- at MY suggestion, not his. I was impressed. We have been with this guy for at least 25 years and I would like to switch dentists but then the insurance reverts back to 70% coverage and grows all over again. That could get to be very expensive. This guy has got to retire pretty soon. I know he is older than I am and, lord knows, I am ready to retire. Why shouldn't he be? :)